China’s refusal to accept U.S. corn last year grown from a type of genetically-modified seed has triggered a flurry of lawsuits nationwide, and a group of lawyers is now encouraging Meeker County farmers to join in suing Minnetonka-based seed producer Syngenta.

A Texas litigator, Mikal Watts, visited Litchfield and several other area communities last week to explain his case against Syngenta and invite farmers to participate in a lawsuit. About 40 farmers attended a meeting last Wednesday at Litchfield Eagles Club to learn about the trade disruption and its alleged connection to a collapse in corn prices the past year.

Watts has teamed up with local lawyers, including Mark Wood of Rue & Wood in Litchfield, to recruit plaintiffs. “I do a lot of work for farmers,” Wood said last week, “and I’m recommending they get into it.” At last Wednesday’s meeting, Litchfield attorney John Mueller also said he’s encouraging clients to file suit. . . .

Watts said Minnesota corn farmers are in a unique situation because Syngenta’s U.S. operation is based in Minnesota. This means Minnesota farmers can file their suits in state courts, including in Meeker County District Court. Plaintiffs suing Syngenta in other states must file in federal courts. Pursuing litigation in a state court is generally better than having to navigate through the federal system, Watts noted.

Watts made no promises in terms of the amount of time it would take to litigate the cases or a possible judgement amount. On a national level, he said, trade disruptions with China caused farmers an estimated $6.3 billion in damages. A court victory would not turn local farmers into “millionaires,” he said, but it could help farmers recoup part of their losses when corn prices plunged from around $7.50 a bushel to about $3.50 a bushel in about a year.

At issue is a Syngenta strain of genetically-modified seed known as Agrisure Viptera MIR162. Syngenta allegedly sold the seed to U.S. farmers before obtaining permission from China to export it there. The seed constituted only a small percentage of corn grown in the U.S., but it was allegedly mingled with other corn types, and China reportedly rejected shipments of corn with traces of MIR162. By rejecting the corn, China effectively increased corn supply, which caused corn prices to fall, Watts alleges. Syngenta had a responsibility to obtain China’s approval for the seed before selling it to farmers, according to Watts. . . .

Read the entire article in the Independent Review. According to China approves imports of GMO Syngenta corn, Pioneer soy, a report earlier this week by Reuters, the companies have issued statements saying that specific GMO products have finally been approved for import by the Chinese government.

As the Independent Review had noted, Agrisure Viptera MIR162 had not been approved before this announcement.

German pharmaceutical giant Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc. has agreed to pay $650 million to settle the claims of approximately 4,000 people who were allegedly injured by use of the drug Pradaxa.

San Antonio-based trial lawyer Mikal Watts, of the law firm Watts Guerra LLP, served as a co-lead counsel in the lawsuit.

Pradaxa is an anticoagulant agent that is prescribed to help lower the risk of stroke among people suffering from the common heart condition known as atrial fibrillation. Since it was approved for use in 2010, more than 1,600 individuals have filed lawsuits in state and federal courts in the United States alleging they suffered bleeding events caused by the drug. . . .

A federal criminal investigation of Mikal Watts and his firm, Watts Guerra, has not yet reached a conclusion, even though Watts' civil lawyer had predicted at a February federal court hearing that a conclusion would come by June.

Robert McDuff, a solo criminal defense lawyer from Jackson, Miss., represents Watts and his firm. McDuff wrote in an email to Texas Lawyer, "Our understanding is that the investigation is ongoing. At the conclusion, we hope that the U.S. attorney will agree with us that there is no basis for his office to take action with respect to Mikal's work on the BP case. In the meantime, Mikal continues to discharge his obligations to his clients in various cases." . . .

Watts and his firm have strenuously denied the allegations BP made in its complaint. In a statement issued to Texas Lawyer at the time of the BP complaint, McDuff wrote, "BP's attack is unfair and unwarranted. Working with other lawyers representing a wide array of oil spill victims, Mr. Watts devoted thousands of hours to uncovering the misdeeds of BP that led the oil spill and that disrupted the lives of many thousands of people who live in the region."

This lawyer appears to be as serious as a heart attack when it come to litigation. We'll keep an eye out for more reports in the Independent Review.

The case against Syngenta appears to center on the responsibly of the corporation with regard to trade disruptions with China, rather than the safety of the GMO corn trait itself.

Photo: Corn dumping of another kind occurred when China refused to buy some American corn that contained the Agrisure Viptera MIR162 trait, which was not yet apporved for import into the Asian country.

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